Alfred C Young | ParaData

Alfred Young enlisted into the Royal East Kent Regiment (The Buffs) before volunteering for airborne forces.

He qualified as a military parachutist on course 13 at RAF Ringway to 21 May 1942. The course ran from 6 -21 May 1942.

Private Young was posted to 1 Platoon, R Company the 1st Battalion, The Parachute Regiment (1 Para Bn).

Private Young went to North Africa on Operation Torch. He also saw action in Sicily and Italy before returning to the UK.

In 1944 Pte Young represented his battalion in boxing. He fought at Flyweight and won his bout in the 1944 1 Airborne Division Individual Championships.

1 Para Bn jumped onto the Renkum Heath, Arnhem on Operation Market Garden on 17 September 1944.

Lance Corporal Young was taken a Prisoner of War and sent to Stalag 12A at Limburg, Germany.

L/Cpl Young was demobbed in May 1946.

By Wendy George

1942
The 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment (1 PARA) (Lance Corporal)

Operations

Event

Arnhem (Operation Market Garden)

1st Allied Airborne Corps, which included the American 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, was tasked to secure the main canal and river crossings between Eindhoven and Arnhem.

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Italy

The Italians had capitulated while the force was still at sea. The sinking of HMS Abdiel by a mine in the harbour, however, resulted in the loss of 130 soldiers from 6th (Royal Welch) Parachute Battalion including their Commanding Officer.

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North Africa (Operation Torch)

On 12 November the 3rd Parachute Battalion (3 Para Bn) jumped onto and seized the vital airfield at Bone between Algiers and Tunis, arriving barely before German paratroopers deployed for the same mission.

Event

Sicily (Operation Husky)

Speed was essential to prevent the consolidation of Italian and German defences facing a rapid pincer movement launched from the west and south east immediately after the amphibious landings. Key bridges and ports were to be captured by airborne assault.

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Members of 1st Para Bn, North Africa, date unknown.

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Boxing certificate for Pte Young, 1st Para Bn, 1944.

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Lance Corporal Alfred C Young

Service History